


The war for Prydain

by RhymesoftheRenegades



Category: Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, a little bit more angst, epic three-way war after Castle of Llyr, slightly more significance of magic, very interested in your thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27163529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhymesoftheRenegades/pseuds/RhymesoftheRenegades
Summary: I have been tossing this idea for a long-running Prydain fanfic around in the back of my mind for awhile now. I'm afraid with the other stories I'm in the middle of, and haven't even started yet, it's just never going to happen. So I'm putting the main ideas out here, and I invite you to share your thoughts on how good of a story you think it would be?
Relationships: Eilonwy/Taran of Caer Dallben
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	The war for Prydain

The story jumps off at the end of the  _ Castle of Llyr,  _ where Taran and his friends fail to save Eilonwy from Achren's control; and with the power of Llyr, provided by a bespelled Eilonwy, she emerges as the third faction in the upcoming war. From Caer Colur she builds a power base, bringing some lords over to her cause with magic, guile, and manipulation. She is still evil, but of a subtler, more attractive kind than Annuvin, and some genuinely see her as a better alternative. She gains control of all Mona, and much of the Western coastline. I was thinking Pryderi would fall for her promises of power and glory fairly easily, giving her a strong force to command. The actual fighting now breaks out sooner; with Achren, Arawn, and the Sons of Don all going at it in a three way war.

As you can imagine this is pretty hard for Taran, who is caught between conflicting loves and loyalties. He steps up to fight with Gwydion, but wants to do something to save Eilonwy. He has a standing invitation from Achren to pledge loyalty to her (so does Gwydion), and is more than once tempted. Eventually, after several major battles he leaves the fighting, and travels to the Marshes of Morva, asking Orddu-Orwen-Orgoch (Am I the only one who thinks of them more as a single entity than three different people?) for aid. Their directions send him on a quest that will follow some of the territory he covers in  _ Taran Wanderer _ ; with Fflewddur, Doli, and Gurgi coming in and out at times. At some point during this, Taran fights in a great battle when Arawn's forces try to take Caer Cadarn; he fights beside King Smoit and saves his life. His quest will end with him confronting Morda, and killing him in the same way he did in the book; but this time Taran will keep the jewel of Llyr, as he has been told it will help him free Eilonwy.

Now one issue I have with this story is: what is Eilonwy doing during all of this. The plot requires her to be at least partially under Achren's sway, but she still has to have agency. There will be quite a struggle for her to master and control her powers; one of the reasons she stays with Achren, even after she begins to suspect the woman’s motives, is the belief she might be too dangerous on her own. Achren’s hold does weaken as her power grows, and some of her memories come back clearer; so the witch mixes in more subtle manipulations to control her. All the unfortunate but necessary things Achren is doing are nothing compared to Arawn’s evil, so surely they  _ must _ gain the power to oppose him. Eilonwy doesn’t like how a lot of things are done in Prydain, surely the best way to bring about change is to unite the corrupt and squabbling lords and kings under a single stronger, more assertive leader. It’s all for the greater good, of course.

Now that he has the magical jewel, Taran decides to go to Caer Colur and falsely pledges his loyalty to Achren, so he can get to Eilonwy and save her. Nothing is more important to him than that, not even his honor. This ploy fools exactly no one (except maybe Eilonwy herself), but Achren doesn't know he has the jewel, and is arrogant enough to humor him, thinking she can eventually get real control over him and use him to weaken Gwydion. It takes time for Taran to win over Eilonwy, and for them to figure out how the magic of the jewel works, and in the meantime he is forced to fight as a war leader in Achren's army.

My general idea for how this eventually ends is that Arawn will get the upper hand in the war. He’ll send out the cauldron-born to kill Pryderi (possibly in revenge for breaking an oath he’d made to him before Achren appeared) and massacre his army, then again to sack Caer Dathyl and kill High King Math. Gwydion and Achren make an uneasy alliance to destroy Annuvin once and for all. The final battle plays out much the same way it did in the book, and in the end a reunited Taran and Eilonwy are married and made High King and Queen.

Some other notes for ideas I had:

Taran and Eilonwy both kill Arawn.

Arawn steals Dyrnwyn in the same way he does in the book; but Achren manages to snatch it from him before he makes it back to Annuvin. She is convinced she can find a way to draw the sword safely; but all her attempts fail, and almost kill her and Eilonwy. Eventually Taran, Gurgi, Doli, and some other Fair Folk manage to steal it back.

Tragic though it would be, I'm toying with the idea that Gwydion dies in Prydain, giving his life for the land he loves. Perhaps he ends up killing Achren, and she also kills him.

Eilonwy would likely argue for more women being allowed to take up arms. She’ll organize a small host of female volunteers for Achren’s army, though Achren won’t allow her to personally lead it in battle very often; she’s too valuable to risk in the actual fighting

There are a few times that dragons are mentioned in the series, but we never see one. Maybe Arawn has one of the last dragons in his dark fortress, and unleashes it during a battle. Taran kills it, possibly with Dyrnwyn; and although the feat is impressive he deeply regrets the necessity of killing such a magnificent creature, probably the last of its kind; which (much like the gwythaints) might not have naturally been as evil without Arawn’s influence.

I would also like to have Dallben throw a bit more magic around. Sure he is forbidden to kill anyone, but when we're talking about  _ magic _ , there have got to be a lot of ways short of killing someone to stop them. Even if it’s strictly nonviolent magic, he could heal someone, or communicate with Taran from hundreds of miles away or something.

  
Achren sees the romantic relationship reblooming between Taran and Eilonwy, and actually doesn’t necessarily disprove. She’s the kind of evil that focuses on what  _ she _ wants first and foremost, but isn’t against making others happy if she can achieve both those things at once. Sometimes the best way to control people is to give them exactly what they want. Also, Archen has gotten ambitious enough that she’s planning to rule for millenia to come; she will still be dependent on Eilonwy’s magic, but Eilonwy herself might not be powerful enough to live as long. The line of Llyr will just have to continue the old fashioned way. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Achren views matchmaking her pawns with the same emotional detachment as breeding livestock.


End file.
